Chapter 516: Sleep
"Fellow Daoist..." Jiang Yue started but stopped mid-sentence.
"I apologise, I have not introduced myself properly." The old man said and quickly continued.
"My surname is Zhao and my given name is Mingdu; Zhao Mingdu."
"It’s good to meet fellow Daoist Zhao." Jiang Yue spoke with a pleasant smile on his lips.
"I am Yu Yue and my Taoist companion is Jiang Zhen."
"Fellow Daoist Yu, fellow Daoist Jiang, it’s good to meet you." Zhao Mingdu said but a trace of confusion flashed in his eyes.
For some reason, the surnames of the two people gave him a sense of déjà vu.
However, he couldn’t think about it so he put the matter to the back of his mind.
"How big is your group?" Yu Nianzhen suddenly asked.
"Our investigation group has twenty-one cultivators. Including the two fellow Daoists, we will have twenty-three." One of the others spoke in a proud voice.
"This is?" Jiang Yue asked.
Pointing at the young man who had just answered Yu Nianzhen’s query, Zhao Mingdu spoke.
"This one is my grandson. His name is Zhao Chen." Zhao Mingdu said and looked at his grandson.
"Chen’er, greet your two seniors."
"Senior Yu, Senior Jiang, I am Zhao Chen. It’s nice to meet you." Zhao Chen spoke in a well-behaved manner.
"Fellow Daoist Zhao is blessed with a well-behaved grandson." Jiang Yue observed and Zhao Mingdu laughed.
However, while Jiang Yue watched the grandfather and grandson, he didn’t forget to secretly observe the third person in the group.
Unlike Zhao Mingdu and Zhao Chen, the third person was reserved.
Although his cultivation was higher than Zhao Chen’s, the person walked one step behind the young man.
At a glance, it was clear the man was Zhao Chen’s guard or servant.
"What about this fellow Daoist?" Jiang Yue asked while looking at the person.
Hearing the question, Zhao Chen frowned but soon smiled.
"He is Zhao Shi, an elder of my Zhao clan." Zhao Chen said and Jiang Yue smiled.
’More like a dead man.’ Jiang Yue thought but didn’t comment on it.
Instead, he smiled and praised the Zhao family.
"The Zhao family is prosperous." He said and Zhao Mingdu laughed happily.
After that, the five walked towards a group of people.
Soon after, Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue formally agreed to ’join’ the investigation team.
At the same time, they talked about treasure sharing and the negotiations went smoothly.
[As expected, there is something wrong with this group.] Jiang Yue transmitted.
[Mmmmm.] Yu Nianzhen agreed.
During the negotiations, Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen were intentionally greedy.
However, Zhao Mingdu and the others didn’t care about them.
Other than making some superficial arguments, they agreed to everything Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen proposed.
[We must be careful when we enter the Burial Province.] Yu Nianzhen said.
[Do you think they are after the things we brought with us or something specific in the Burial Province? Do they want us to face the danger while they reap the benefits?]
[They are likely after both.]
[How greedy!] Jiang Yue sneered.
"Fellow Daoists, why don’t we rest for a day and enter tomorrow?" Zhao Mingdu suggested.
"My Taoist companion and I will follow the fellow Daoist’s instructions." Jiang Yue said and Zhao Mingdu nodded in approval.
After that, everyone dispersed and several people returned to their portable caves or tents.
[Don’t take out the ancient palace.] Yu Nianzhen reminded.
[Don’t worry.] Jiang Yue said and took out a simple tent.
After setting it up, the two entered the tent and looked at each other.
"I have a feeling tonight won’t be peaceful." Jiang Yue said and chuckled.
"Let’s see what they want to do." Yu Nianzhen agreed.
As expected, the night was not peaceful.
In the middle of the night, the two heard soft footsteps walking around their tent.
Soon after, a subtle fragrance diffused into their tent and penetrated into their bodies.
[It’s a sleeping fragrance.] Jiang Yue reminded and Yu Nianzhen nodded.
However, neither panicked.
With their cultivation level, this kind of fragrance was not enough to knock them out.
Nevertheless, they each took a detoxification pill to guard against unexpected consequences.
[They will soon come into the tent. Let’s pretend to be asleep.] Yu Nianzhen said and tightly held his lover.
[Do you want them to find us like this?]
[We are lovers.]
After hearing that, Jiang Yue didn’t argue.
He cooperatively lay in his husband’s arms and pretended to be asleep.
Soon after, a whispered conversation floated into the tent.
"They should have already fallen asleep." Someone said.
"Young Miss Zhao prepared the sleeping fragrance. It has perfect effectiveness." Another said in a proud voice.
"Hurry up and take the people."
"Okay, don’t shout. What will you do if you wake them up?"
"Wake up? Don’t joke with me." Someone said and several people burst into laughter.
A few moments later, the flap opened and a man walked into the tent.
The man was tall, burly, and was dressed in black.
Half of his face was covered with a black cloth and he held a formation disk in his right hand.
[It’s a trapping formation disk.] Jiang Yue transmitted.
[Can you deal with it?]
[With my eyes closed.] Jiang Yue bragged and Yu Nianzhen subconsciously smiled.
Soon after, the man activated the disk and the two were quickly dragged into the formation.
"They didn’t even take our storage rings." Jiang Yue said as soon as they appeared in the trapping formation.
"They probably think it won’t be difficult to take them later since we have already fallen into their hands."
"It seems that robbery is not their end goal." Jiang Yue said with a solemn look in his eyes.
"It looks that way." Yu Nianzhen agreed and was about to continue but suddenly stopped talking.
"What’s wrong?" Jiang Yue questioned.
"We are not the only ones here." Yu Nianzhen said and pointed to the right.
The trapping formation was a windowless room of about one thousand square metres and had a hard stone floor.
When they first entered the formation, Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue focused on themselves and didn’t look around.
Now that they did, they realised there were more than fifty people in the formation.
Unfortunately, all of them were still under the effect of the sleeping fragrance and were dead asleep.
"Should we wake them?" Jiang Yue asked as he looked around.
"Don’t you want their storage rings first?" Yu Nianzhen asked.
Hearing that, Jiang Yue was startled and looked at his husband with a surprised look in his eyes.
"Azhen, do you want to take their storage rings?"
"We are going to save them. It’s natural to ask for payment."
"I know that and I was planning to take their storage rings. I just didn’t expect you would mention it before I did."
Hearing that, Yu Nianzhen chuckled and rubbed his husband’s hair.
"We don’t know how long they have been asleep. Let’s hurry up before they wake up." He said.
"Good."
Soon after, the two ran around the formation and took everyone’s storage artefacts.
After doing that, they fed everyone a detoxification pill and pretended to sleep while waiting for the others to wake up.
[Fortunately, everyone had detoxification pills in their storage rings. If we relied on our stash, the pills wouldn’t have been enough.] Jiang Yue said.
[Azhen, I can’t wait to check our harvest.]
[That will have to wait until we get out of the trapping formation and away from this group of people.]
[I know.] Jiang Yue said and sighed.
While the two were transmitting messages, an angry roar filled the trapping formation.
"Who is it? Which bastard took my storage ring?" A person shouted.
"Wake up for me." He continued and viciously kicked a person who was sleeping beside him.
"Master..." The person called with a confused look on his face.
Unfortunately, the previous person did not give him a chance to fully understand the situation.
Instead, he kicked him again and glared with a cruel look in his eyes.
"You dare to sleep when your master has already woken up?"
Hearing this, the kicked person quickly peppered up.
However, his expression soon turned gloomier.
"Master, where are we?" The person asked.
"What do you..." The master started but when he looked around, he realised he was not in the place he had fallen asleep.
In shock, the master and disciple looked around and realised they were not the only people in the room.
"What is going on here? Who are these people?" The master asked.
Unfortunately, the disciple didn’t have an answer.
All he remembered was falling asleep in his master’s portable cave and he didn’t wake up until his master kicked him.
"Where am I?" A voice asked and the two turned to see a confused female cultivator.
"What is this? Who is conspiring against me?" The female cultivator screamed angrily.
At the same time, more and more people including Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue continued to wake up.
